Electricity damage

[Woas]

For some reason this topic popped into my head while at work today and I gave it a couple minutes of thought. Just some idle brainstorming here, but what about a system where a character getting electrocuted makes an End throw and the Effect of the throw equals an extra (or one less) d6 worth of damage. Or alternatively just a flat extra point of damage.

As for determining the base damage, I guess that's the refs called based on the situation. But for example, if you determine that a character who is somehow electrocuted should receive... 6d6 damage and the character rolls a 5, then the character would receive either 7d6 damage or 6d6+2. Alternatively if the character rolled a 10, then it would be 3d6 damage or 6d6-3.

Just wanted to share...

 

[kristof65]

Not a bad idea.

 

[hhawk]

One of the effects of getting electrocuted is muscle tensioning. So even with lower powered shocks there can be a risk of serious injury or death because the person may not be physically able to break free from what is electrocuting them.

Maybe in those cases you could even have a an endurance or strength check to see if you could pull free (if you wanted to add a bit of extra peril to a situation).

This would only apply to AC and not DC.

 

[GypsyComet]

One of the effects of getting electrocuted is muscle tensioning. So even with lower powered shocks there can be a risk of serious injury or death because the person may not be physically able to break free from what is electrocuting them.

Maybe in those cases you could even have a an endurance or strength check to see if you could pull free (if you wanted to add a bit of extra peril to a situation).

This would only apply to AC and not DC.

The effects happen in both, actually. The danger of AC is that, being a alternating current, the effects on the muscles flicker back and forth at the same hertz rate as the AC. The result is that the single polarity jolt of DC is fairly likely to throw you free unless you happen to be in a position where your muscles just aren't oriented right, while AC will cause the muscles to "lock", effectively freezing you in place to take more current until your "fuse" blows. Often fatally.

 

[kristof65]

One of the effects of getting electrocuted is muscle tensioning. So even with lower powered shocks there can be a risk of serious injury or death because the person may not be physically able to break free from what is electrocuting them.

Maybe in those cases you could even have a an endurance or strength check to see if you could pull free (if you wanted to add a bit of extra peril to a situation).

This would only apply to AC and not DC.

It potentially can apply to DC, too, depending upon what position your muscles are in at the time of the shock, and the path of the current. I can't think of many positions and other factors that would actually cause that, but it's possible. Basically, you'd have to be at a point where all your muscles were at or near their "neutral" point and/or their convulsion would drive you further onto the circuit you're connected to.

As far as game rules are concerned, it should probably only apply to AC circuits, however, I think you could probably ignore it simply because I don't see a lot of starship circuits using voltages and currents where that's going to apply - they are either going to be high enough to kill you outright, or low enough to do their damage while you break free.

I tell you what though - having a DC voltage cause all of your muscles to go tense at once and thus throwing you off that voltage is a feeling you don't soon forget...

 

[Ishmael]

with AC, and assuming you get loose without really bad hurt, the muscles that got affected will be all limp and exhausted like they got used to run a marathon... from all that contracting and relaxing.

I wonder what sort of 'weird' power requirements some equipment might require;
clean dc?
3 phase AC of *odd* hz? 400hz? higher? lower?
multi-phase 5hz? ( strange tech )